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Why this season so far is looking very good for Arsenal
Gyokeres ends nine-game barren run with a brace as Gunners continue good run by dismantling Atletico Madrid 4-0
Kolkata: Seconds after he had scored, Gabriel got a vital touch to deflect Giuliano Simeone’s shot for a corner-kick. It showed how efficient Arsenal were in both boxes at Emirates on Tuesday. In the next 13 minutes, they scored three more to dismantle Atletico Madrid and become the first team in Champions League history to notch up seven consecutive wins against Spanish clubs.
To one goal from set-play – Gabriel’s header was their ninth of the season, as per Premier League’s X handle – and a brilliant finish from Gabriel Martinelli, Arsenal added a brace from Viktor Gyökeres. Scruffy poacher’s goals both, they were rewards for the Swede’s industry and ended a barren run of nine games for club and country.
This was the longest Gyökeres, bought for £64m, had gone without scoring since 2021-22. How Gyökeres holds up through such a period would prove how good he is, Mikel Arteta had said. If this performance is any indication, the Arsenal manager would be happy with what he saw.
Gyökeres hassled Atletico Madrid’s defence and backline for all of the 82 minutes he was on the pitch. In the 11th minute, he made a sharp run to make space for Martinelli but Myles Lewis-Skelly chose to play into the midfield. In the 28th, Gyökeres won the ball as Atletico tried to play out from the back and Arsenal circulated it to Martinelli whose cross was cleared by Robin le Normand. He got Atletico’s central defenders José Maria Giménez and Le Normand booked. In first half stoppage time, Gyökeres hurried Jan Oblak into a clearance leading to Bukayo Saka retrieving and starting an attack.
“He (Gyökeres) makes us a better team. We become much more unpredictable. He is so physical; he opens space for everybody. The way he presses the ball, heads the ball; he is phenomenal,” said Arteta in a flash interview.
Early in the second half, Martin Zubimendi found Gyökeres who had run into space but Oblak got big on the striker. The reprieve was short-lived as Arsenal found an opening when Martinelli was fouled by Marcos Llorente. Declan Rice’s free-kick was headed home by Gabriel in the 57th minute triggering a goal rush that encapsulated Arsenal’s superiority barring a Dávid Hancko’s free header and two moments both involving Julian Alvarez.
A momentary lapse of reason from David Raya had led to the first but Alvarez was unable to swing it into an open goal from an acute angle. The second had Alvarez’s shot thudding into the horizontal.
Connor Gallagher being a step slower, possibly because he had just been introduced, led to Lewis-Skelly running unopposed down the middle and drawing Llorente out of position. It freed Martinelli who bent it like Beckham to put Arsenal 2-0 ahead in the 64th minute. A big deflection off Hancko fetched Gyökeres his first goal in the 67th, his second coming three minutes later off a Rice corner-kick that generated chaos in the box.
Like Alexander Isak, Liverpool’s British transfer record £125m buy, Gyökeres has struggled for missing pre-seasons. Gyökeres was described as invisible in the last international window.
“He (Gyökeres) scored two very different types of goals today and hopefully starts to get some momentum and a good run of goals,” said Arteta of the player who netted 97 goals in 102 matches in all competitions for Sporting CP including 54 in 52 matches last term. Gyökeres now has five goals in 12 games for Arsenal.
Where Liverpool and Arsenal have been different, and why the current Premier League leaders are four points clear of the champions, is in defensive play. Manchester United were the fourth team in succession to show Liverpool’s vulnerability at the back, especially at set-pieces. Liverpool have had two clean sheets in 12 games, Arsenal nine. Arsenal have conceded three goals so far in 2025-26 and none in the Champions League where, along with Paris St-Germain and Inter Milan, they have won on all three match days.
Arsenal have been clinical in front – Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone said it should be a lesson for his team – and solid at the back. Saka and Jurrien Timber can whip up a storm on the right, Lewis-Skelly’s inversion into midfield adds muscle in a region bossed by the skillful Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze and Rice. Sometime next month, Martin Odegaard should be back but unlike last season, Arsenal have not looked wobbly without him. “We have a lot of players who can play in two-three positions… it’s looking very good,” said Raya.
It’s a long way to the finishing line but Arsenal have been good enough to believe that this could be the season that ends years of hurt.
